Jitloff 10th in GS in Germany

By USSA

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Austria’s Marcel Hirscher took revenge for his World Championship loss, posting a 1.99 second first run before charging to a 3.28 second win in an Audi FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Ted Ligety (Park City) was fourth.

Ligety was eighth after first run, on a run he descibed as like “skiing on one of those kiddy ball rooms where you jump in the pit.” The course was tough in the morning, with guys struggling to find speed out of the snow. But Hirscher was able to figure it out, and the normally competitive Ligety did nothing but praise Hirscher’s skiing.

“That was impressive,” he said. “He was able to put on a massive margin on us and that second run he skied awesome. Impressive piece of skiing, that’s for sure.”

Ligety’s second run moved him to first place for a good number of racers, and he sat in third until Hirscher bumped him off the podium. Hometown boy Felix Neureuther was second and Benni Raich of Austria was third, in his first World Cup podium in a year.

Although sick, Tim Jitloff (Reno) pulled out the second fastest GS run second run to move into 10. Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) had a phenomenal first run — finishing in 13 — and was still in the points after a small bobble second run put him in 23rd.

The men now get ready for Kvitfjell, Norway for a downhill and super G. Two more World Cup giant slaloms remain, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, before the men head to the World Cup Finals in Meribel, France.